MONTY IS BEST FOR A WIND-UP
PHIL MICKELSON has revealed he once had Colin Montgomerie believing the American PGA had told him to “win a f***ing tournament or stop moaning about our tee times”.
Five-time Major winner Mickelson admitted Monty was often the target of his wind-ups because the Scot can take a joke better than most on the Tour.
And when the Californian read an article in which Monty was mouthing off about terrible tee times in America he felt it was too good a chance to miss.
Mickelson said: “I’ve carried out a lot of pranks, more than I should have.
“But I also have to be careful who I do it to because some people take it really well and other people don’t.
“One of my favourite targets is Monty because he takes it great.
“Monty’s a great dinner guest. He’s intelligent. He’s well spoken. He’s fun to be with and has a great sense of humour.
“So he has been a target of mine a few times.
“I remember one time we were playing at Bay Hill (Arnold Palmer Invitational) way back in 1997 and there was an article circulating that Monty wasn’t happy about his ‘bloody’ tee times on the PGA Tour.
“Monty was quoted as saying, ‘I’m teeing off early. I am teeing off late but here I am No.3 in the world and this is ridiculous’.
“I saw this article in a US golf magazine so I headed down to the on-site office that week of the PGA Tour and got a sheet of paper with the PGA Tour letterhead.
“I typed up a letter addressed to Monty saying, ‘Dear Monty, we at the PGA Tour held an emergency meeting last night to discuss your concerns over your tee times and we think we have a solution. Win a f***ing tournament!’ It was signed, ‘Yours sincerely, PGA Tour Policy Board’.
“So I left the letter in Monty’s locker on Tuesday night and then on the Wednesday morning I saw Monty on the practice putting and knew he had received the letter.
“As he hit his practice putt he was mumbling and saying, ‘Eerrr ... eerrr’ to his caddy.
“I knew what he was talking about and I kind of bantered up to him and said, ‘Did you get my note?’
“Monty said, ‘It was you! It was you!’
“We chuckled and had a good laugh but Monty is good at taking that stuff.
“I got that humorous streak from my mum.
“My mum is the one who brings a water pistol into the movie theatre, squirts it into the crowd and points to us.
“That’s just her sense of humour.
“So that’s where I get my humorous side.
“And while some people get it some people don’t so you have to be careful. Monty gets it though.”